


Rebirth

by EaSnowPw



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 18:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20475596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EaSnowPw/pseuds/EaSnowPw
Summary: I killed him.It was my fault.Earth's greatest protector.And I killed him.ORStephen revives Tony at a great personal cost. Tony never leaves anyone behind.





	Rebirth

_I killed him._  
  
_ It was my fault._  
  
_ Earth's greatest protector._  
  
_ And I killed him._  
  
The book was open, though useless at this point. He knew the words by heart, had practiced the gestures.  
  
_Anthony Edward Stark._  
  
He knew the cost, at least he thought he did. It would be worth it in the end.  
  
_Earth's greatest protector._  
  
The candles were lit by magic, flickering a bit as he sat down.  
  
_Give him back. This was my mistake._  
  
The Cloak hovered anxiously outside the circle, but didn't stop him. He guessed that it agreed.  
  
_Hippocratic oath._  
  
He began the ritual with careful, calculated motions. It had to be perfect. It had to work.  
  
_It will work._  
  
It was... remarkably simple. The dark magic flew through his veins as Dormmamu's laughter echoed in his ears, but he stayed focused on his task.  
  
_You can take me afterwards, just let me have this._  
  
The black marks were burning into his skin, dragging pained grunts out of his throat until, finally...  
  
The room went dark.  
  
Stephen forced himself to stay awake despite the blinding pain.  
  
"Wha- where am I?"  
  
He found, surprisingly, that he couldn't speak because of the pain.  
  
"Strange? Is that... is that you?"  
  
The door opened and a loud gasp was heard. Wong. Okay, he'd expected this. With his last strength, he grabbed his sling ring and opened a portal under the one he'd just resurrected, straight to his wife's room. She would be there at this time.  
  
"What the...?"  
  
"Stephen, what did you do?"  
  
He met Wong's terrified gaze, unrepentant.  
  
"What had to be done." His last words before he succumbed to his wounds.

* * *

_~A week later~_  
  
Tony Stark's resurrection was all over the news and would stay there for the foreseeable future.  
  
"No, I'm not Jesus. No, I can't turn metal into gold, though it may look like it. No, I have no idea what happened. As I said, the Stones went funky."  
  
After he somehow lost the reporters (And he'd thought they were bad before), he headed straight to the New York sanctum. His memories of his ressurection were intact and even if they hadn't been, Pepper would remember her dead but now alive husband falling on their bed naked. He'd never heard her scream that loudly.  
  
To his surprise, Wong met him at the doorstep.  
  
"Hey, Wong. How's it going?"  
  
"I am afraid you cannot enter, Mr Stark."  
  
The engineer frowned. Wong wasn't a particularly welcoming fellow, but he used to at least tolerate Tony before the time heist. Now, the man had a cold look on his face, like he was seconds away from blasting him off.  
  
"Why not? How's Strange?"  
  
"The masters have decided that you shall be allowed to live as long as you keep our existence a secret, but we shall no longer interact with you."   
  
Tony took a step forward, coming almost chest to chest with the other man. Wong still didn't falter.  
  
"Why? And where's Strange?"  
  
"He has been exiled due to participating in an illegal ritual which has poisoned his soul, corrupting it with dark magic." Tony went pale. That sounded bad. "That being said, I... His exile doesn't guarantee his survival."  
  
"Where is he?" the billionaire pressed. "If it's a health thing, I can..." Wong shook his head. "He can't be dying because of me! Tell me where he is and how to fix this!"  
  
"You can't fix this."  
  
"The fuck I can't! I'm Tony Stark! I fix things! It's in the job description! Where is he?"  
  
"I suppose you could fix this too..." the sorcerer reluctantly admitted, his stoic mask finally cracking. "He needs to be around a positive aura. Around happy people. People in love. Close friends. Not necessarily who feel these things for him, but for each other. It might help purge him." Tony nodded. "As for his whereabouts..." The Cloak of Levitation came out, carrying a basket. It briefly hesitated in front of Tony, then flew off. The genius didn't need further prompting and ran after the loyal watchdog.  
  
"I'll take care of him!" he promised.

* * *

He followed the glorified napkin into a dark alley. Tony entered slowly, looking around. One of the shadows was darker than the others, so he headed there and found a lump.  
  
"Strange?"  
  
The Cloak had laid over the lump, so he carefully touched it, briefly recoiling when the red fabric rose threateningly, coiling like a serpent.  
  
"I want to help, you overzealous guardian angel."  
  
It reluctantly slid back, revealing its charge. Stephen looked terrible. His skin was black, barely visible. His eyes had a strange purple makeup, apparently gates to another universe. He was cold to the touch. Tony instantly felt guilty. The other man had reached that stage of decay because of him.  
  
"Strange?"  
  
No answer, but at least he was breathing.  
  
"Okay, magic rug, make yourself useful and help me get him in the car."

* * *

"Tony, I want answers."  
  
"Alright, that's fair."  
  
Pepper rolled her eyes, but tapped her foot, expectant. There was a half dead man occupying their guest room. Of course she needed answers.  
  
"Stephen ressurected me last week, as you've probably noticed." She rolled her eyes with a scoff. "They kicked him out of the Order of the Phoenix and he's obviously sick, so I took him in. Wong said he needs to be around positive energy, so I figured bringing him here with us was better than dumping him in a hospital," Tony ranted.  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Ok?" He'd expected some protests, maybe a snarky comment.  
  
"I won't turn away the man who brought my husband back to me, so ok," the woman explained. "Let's get him some iv's and new clothes." Her husband seemed stuck. "Tony?"  
  
"Have I mentioned lately how much I love you?"

* * *

They got the hopefully not dying wizard settled in and took turns checking in during the day. Sometimes, they stayed with him together, worried about his lack of development.  
  
"He looks sad," Pepper told Tony one night in a hushed whisper.  
  
"Think he can hear you?"  
  
They both eyed the bed.  
  
"You look sad," she amended.  
  
The Cloak was now covering its master on top of the blanket. It reacted languidly to them and didn't get in their way when they hooked up the iv. Tony thought it looked tired and hoped the garment's behaviour wasn't related to its master's state.

* * *

**"Surrender to my power."**  
  
Stephen whimpered.  
  
**"You have no meaning in this world."**  
  
He struggled, his mind losing the battle against Dormmamu's power. The demon was right. He had no purpose.  
  
** "Your own people rejected you."**  
  
They did.  
  
"Stephen? Stephen, you're bleeding out black... gas."  
  
**"You have nothing."**  
  
"Pepper, take Morgan and go."  
  
**"You have nothing."**  
  
"Stephen, please wake up! I'm begging you!"  
  
**"No use."**  
  
"Stephen, please!"  
  
**"But I have purpose for you."**  
  
"No..." the sorcerer mumbled.  
  
Tony gripped his hand tight, ignoring the burning dark fire.  
  
"Like fuck no! Fucking hell, Stephen, you didn't come so far to die like this! Wake up now!"  
  
The dark fire suddenly vanished. Tony waited for worse to come, but Stephen was back to being unconscious. The engineer sighed in relief and bowed, resting his forehead on Stephen's shoulder.  
  
"Thank you."

* * *

"He's dangerous, Tony," Pepper said while bandaging his hand.  
  
"I won't give up on him. He's just going through a rough patch. I swear it to you, if I thought for one moment that he was dangerous, I wouldn't have brought him here," he promised.  
  
"Tony, he hurt you."  
  
He couldn't refute that.  
  
"I... I'm not giving up on him. So if you... No, how about this? Morgan won't enter that room. If anything happens and either of us gets hurt again, he's out of the house. I'll pull some strings. I can probably even get him in the Avengers tower."  
  
"Ok. Alright."  
  
Tony pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

* * *

Stephen regained consciousness with a lot of difficulty. It felt like swimming against the tide. Still, he was pleasantly warm and didn't feel bad, all things considered. His eyelids were heavy, but he was surprisingly lying on something soft and the blanket covering him smelled nice. The room wasn't the blinding white of a hospital, so where was he?  
  
"How're you feeling, doc?" Tony asked from his side. "Water?"  
  
He wasn't dehydrated, but his throat was dry so he took a sip of the glass Tony held to his lips.  
  
"I'm... fine."  
  
"Ok, good. If there's anything you need, just let me know."  
  
Stephen met his eyes. Tony did his best not to be disturbed by the weird purple markings. Still, the sad, almost desperate look on the sorcerer's face broke him.  
  
"Stephen, anything. I mean it."  
  
"Why?" A hushed whisper, sad and lonely. Tony wondered if he shouldn't have been surprised. His own people had tossed him out to die. When he thought of it like that, his heart squeezed painfully for his charge.  
  
"Why? You brought me back to life, safe and sound. Look at me. I'm not a zombie, or a ghost, or... I'm just me. Living, breathing."  
  
"But I killed you."  
  
Tony's eyes widened and his heart sank.  
  
"No, you didn't! God, is that why-? No, just no!" Tony grabbed a shaky hand tight. Stephen couldn't possibly believe that. "Thanos killed me. The gauntlet killed me. My own ambition killed me. You? You just saved the universe. Now me too." The sorcerer looked away, ashamed. Tony knew that look. He would do his best to erase it. "I'll tell you this every day for the rest of our lives if I have to."  
  
Stephen stayed silent.

* * *

Tony and Pepper alternated their visits during the day, sometimes together. Soon, they deemed the sorcerer safe enough to allow Morgan to come in again.  
  
"I'm in your home," Stephen told Tony after her visit.  
  
"Yup. We figured this worked better," the engineer explained with a gentle smile. He couldn't decipher what the other man was feeling.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I said so. Now rest, you look tired."

* * *

"For how long will he stay here?" Pepper asked one day.  
  
"I... umm... forever? His own people threw him out like garbage. It's not like he has a home to return to."  
  
"Tony..."  
  
He cut her off, nervous.  
  
"I owe him my life, Pep."  
  
"I know." She grabbed his hand and squeezed lightly. "We should get him properly settled in."  
  
Tony's lips twitched into a smile.

* * *

"What do you enjoy reading?" Pepper asked Stephen one day. The black marks were starting to recede, leaving milky skin behind. He was slowly getting stronger, no longer needing iv, but eating like a normal person. With Tony's help, he got out of bed to the bathroom and back.  
  
"I..." He used to read about medicine and the mystic arts. "Medicine is good."  
  
"Ok. Look through these and tell me which ones you like." She placed a tablet on his lap.  
  
He hesitated, but slowly began browsing, sighing when his hands betrayed him. Pepper knew that Tony would soon fix that.  
  
"Ignore the price. My husband is a billionaire."  
  
He didn't seem too happy about that, but picked two pricy tomes. Pepper didn't even blink at it and confirmed the purchase.

* * *

"And the next Starkphone should probably be launched next May," Pepper ranted as the two adults headed towards the now familiar bedroom where their guest was supposed to be resting.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes, the gap is big enough to justify the new technology."  
  
"Sure, Peps, whatever..." There was a reason why she was the CEO.  
  
Tony froze in the doorway. Pepper peeked past him and smiled.  
  
Morgan was in bed with Stephen, laughing at the swarm of blue butterflies surrounding her. He was smiling at the girl's joy, trembling hands guiding the magical products.  
  
"Tony, look."  
  
The white spots on Stephen's neck were growing. One reached his eye, the makeup vanishing instantly.  
  
"I'm looking."  
  
Morgan hugged the sad wizard and his face finally became visible.  
  
He was making progress.

* * *

"You're 6, why do you prefer the company of a sick man instead of other children?" Stephen asked Morgan bluntly one day. The girl was very smart, having inherited her father.  
  
"They don't understand me," she replied evenly. "I got pushed 4 years up in school and they want to push even more."  
  
He hummed in thought, rolling the dice again.  
  
"What about schools for gifted students?" Money couldn't have possibly been an issue.  
  
"I didn't like it there." She pulled up a circuit board, fiddling with it. Briefly pausing, she rolled her own dice.  
  
"Well, I'm not your father, so I can't really give a solid opinion-"  
  
"But you disagree."  
  
"No. Not really. I'm just unsure."  
  
"I'm not lonely, Stephen." It felt weird, talking to such a perceptive child. "I have mom and dad, and uncle Happy and uncle Rhodey, and Peter, and Harley... and you." It was definitely more than he had. He rolled his own dice. "You landed on my house. 250." She hadn't even glanced up from the circuit board.  
  
Stephen surrendered the money.  
  
"I think you're winning."  
  
Her smile lit up the entire room.

* * *

One day, Tony returned home to the sweet smell of homemade pasta. Stephen smiled bashfully from the living room, where he was setting the table. Morgan was munching on a biscuit, temporarily sated.  
  
"We made pasta!" she announced, going to hug her father. He smiled.  
  
"Oh, a warm meal. You're a good wife," he teased.  
  
Stephen shrugged. His black hands, the last place where the marks refused to vanish, were pouring the wine.  
  
"It's the least I can do. You've been very kind-"  
  
Tony cut him off.  
  
"We've been over this already. I owe you my life. You don't owe me s... anything," he corrected, glancing at his daughter.  
  
"Tony... what I did, I didn't do it for you to owe me."  
  
The engineer went to the other man and cupped his cheeks, forcing eye contact.  
  
"Yes, but it's more than anyone has ever done for me."  
  
"You saved my life. I'd say we're even," Stephen dismissed. "I'll be out of your hair soon enough." And where would he go?  
  
"Or, and you might not believe me, you can stay." Stephen shook his head. "Forever. I mean it."  
  
"What about your wife? Your daughter?" The sorcerer was getting agitated.  
  
"Morgan, do you like Stephen?"  
  
The girl nodded.  
  
"He's great."  
  
"Do you want him to leave?"  
  
"No. Can't he stay with us?"  
  
Tony looked pointedly at the other man.  
  
"I can stay for a while longer," the sorcerer amended.

* * *

"You are welcome to spend the rest of your life here, with us," Pepper told him. She was speaking slowly, as if he was an idiot and wouldn't understand her otherwise.  
  
Truth be told, he didn't really understand anyway, so what did that say about him?  
  
"Why?" Why would they want him around? He had killed her husband, then couldn't even bring him back without baggage.  
  
Unlike Tony, Pepper didn't press. She just gave him a sad look, like she understood something unpleasant about him.  
  
"You saved my husband twice."  
  
"I sent him to die."  
  
She nodded, sighing.  
  
"You really believe that, don't you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He could tell that it was the wrong answer.

* * *

"Can you bake?" Morgan asked him one day.  
  
"I can try." He hadn't really baked in years, but he'd lived alone for a good chunk of his life. Like any functional adult, he knew his way around the kitchen.  
  
"Can we make cookies for mom's birthday tomorrow?"  
  
Well, shit. He hadn't gotten her anything. He should've at least talked to Tony about it. He should've asked them when their birthdays were or looked it up on the internet. This was below the bare minimum.  
  
"Sure."

* * *

The cookies came out decent. Not perfect, but decent. Pepper was very happy, especially since Tony was held back in the city for an Avengers-related issue.  
  
Stephen and her put Morgan to bed, then headed outside, on the terrace, with a bottle of wine.  
  
"It's good that you're here," she admitted. "You have no idea how nice it is to have someone waiting home for you."  
  
"You have Morgan," he easily dismissed.  
  
"Yes, but I know that she can't get in trouble and she's with someone who cares about her, not a paid babysitter." She was looking at him as if she was challenging him to counter her.  
  
"I suppose you're right."  
  
"Stephen..." The woman shifted and held his gloved hands in hers. "If you want to leave, we're not going to stop you." Her eyes were intense, boring into his. "But we'd rather you stayed."  
  
He nodded, looking down.  
  
"I don't have anywhere else to go."  
  
A soft, gentle hand on his cheek guided his gaze back to hers.  
  
"Just ask."  
  
To her relief, he kept his mouth shut.  
  
Still, the tears in his eyes confused her.  
  
"Stephen?"  
  
"I got your husband killed."  
  
"You also brought him back to me. Twice."  
  
He shook his head and stood up, rubbing his eyes.  
  
"I almost got all of you killed."  
  
"Stephen..." She followed him. "That wasn't your fault."  
  
"I almost killed everyone." He jerked away from her hands, spinning around to face her. "I knew the cost of the spell. I knew it. I used dark, forbidden magic, which comes from a dimension ruled by a demon called Dormammu. I almost let him into this world because of what I did. We'd be helpless if that was the case and it almost happened!" he cried out. He had been sure that Wong would kill him and call it a day, but the man had convinced the other masters to spare him. "I saw the burn on Tony's hand! I know what I almost did!"  
  
Pepper silenced him in the only foolproof way she knew. With her lips. To her surprise, he didn't reject it. He didn't respond, either, he just took it, his hands hesitantly seeking purchase on her body. He was the one who broke it, resting their foreheads together.  
  
"No."  
  
Pepper was suddenly alone, with nothing but a bottle of wine to keep her company.

* * *

"Last night never happened," she told Stephen in the morning, rubbing her forehead.  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"Was there tongue?" Tony's voice piped up.  
  
The other two jerked towards him, eyes comically wide.  
  
"When did you come home?"  
  
"A few minutes ago. So, tongue?"  
  
"I need a painkiller," Pepper muttered, walking past him. Tony chuckled and softly rubbed her arm.  
  
Stephen was stuck.  
  
"You're surprisingly calm for someone who just concluded that his wife had cheated on him."  
  
"Huh? Right." Tony quickly pulled Stephen into a short kiss. "Check. Now we're even."  
  
The sorcerer looked hurt and confused when he stepped away.  
  
"Tony, I'm not... a tool for revenge, or whatever you just tried to accomplish with that."  
  
"I know."  
  
Pepper came back, still holding her head.  
  
"Talk," she ordered, sitting on the couch. Each man took an armchair.  
  
"Tony just kissed me."  
  
"I need another drink."  
  
"Ok, before we get another alcoholic in this family, let me say my piece," Tony proposed. Pepper nodded. "This doesn't have to be a bad thing."  
  
"I should probably leave," Stephen suggested.  
  
"No, let him talk. He's not a genius for nothing." Tony loved Pepper because she understood him.  
  
"Thanks, love. Now, how about I present some simple facts first?"  
  
"I'm getting a bad feeling."  
  
"Same."  
  
"I feel so loved," Tony replied drily. "Look, fact one: Stephen has had a crush on me since he saw those 14 000 605 futures. Fact two: Pepper has had a crush on Stephen for a few months and I'm pretty sure it's reciprocated." Both looked like they wanted to die. "Also, I've been personally crushing on the wizard since pasta night." He let everything sink in. "Pepper, my wife, love of my life, I suggest adding a third person to our relationship."  
  
"Agreed," she replied almost instantly. There was no reason not to. They were already living together.  
  
"Does the third person get a vote?" Stephen asked.  
  
"No, because you're a self-deprecating idiot who's trying to tear himself down mentally and occasionally physically. You just get to sit down and let us love you," Tony retorted.  
  
"I can't acc..."  
  
"Starting now. Come here." The engineer dragged him to the couch, where Pepper had moved to make room in the middle. Tony shoved Stephen down and they both cuddled him. The sorcerer weakly tried to escape, until tears of frustration appeared in his eyes. The other two abruptly let him go.  
  
"Stephen?"  
  
"Shit! Did I misread?"  
  
He shook his head and stood up, the Cloak quickly coming to his shoulders.  
  
"I don't deserve this," he chocked out.  
  
"If it's about what you told me last night..." Pepper began, carefully approaching him. He jerked away.  
  
"How can you accept someone who almost got your family killed?"  
  
"Because you didn't," Tony replied. He jumped on the wizard when he went for his sling ring, wrestling him to the floor. The Cloak floated away, watching them scuffle. Tony finally pinned Stephen down. "Listen to me. Just listen. I talked to Wong. I know what happened, what almost happened, alright? I know. And I don't care, because it didn't happen. It didn't happen because it was you, you dumbass. You'd never let anything bad happen, to anyone."  
  
The sorcerer stopped struggling and let his head thump against the floor, panting lightly.  
  
"I thought the masters would decide to kill me," he admitted weakly.  
  
Tony released his arms and gently cupped his cheeks, still straddling him.  
  
"I think I wanted them to."  
  
Pepper joined them on the floor and took one of Stephen's hands in hers, softly kissing the still black appendage.  
  
"I didn't expect to survive. Or heal."  
  
The other two stayed silent.  
  
"I saw this family, this broken family, and knew I'd taken you away from it, from them. I had to fix it. Nothing seemed more important than that. And now I feel that I don't belong here, like I'm just... interfering with the way things should be." He looked into their eyes in turn, searching. "But if you'll have me, I'll stay. I want to, even though I feel like I don't deserve it."  
  
"Let us prove you wrong," Pepper asked of him.  
  
Stephen nodded weakly, closing his eyes in pain.

* * *

"They want you back."  
  
Stephen, Tony and Pepper stared at Wong in disbelief. Then Stephen started laughing hysterically. Tony and Pepper exchanged worried looks when the sorcerer didn't stop even after several minutes.  
  
"Stephie, love..." Tony called. Pepper squeezed their lover's thigh.  
  
Stephen finally regained his sanity and ran a hand through his hair, sighing.  
  
"I'm not going back." His voice was even.  
  
"We need you," Wong pressed.  
  
"Really?" Stephen stood up. "Where were you when I was dying? Didn't you need me then?" he boomed.  
  
"Hey, calm down," Pepper urged, pulling Stephen back to the couch. "Wong is your friend."  
  
Stephen sighed, following her.  
  
"I'm sorry," he muttered. Wong nodded.  
  
"I didn't expect you to come back. Still, I was chosen to deliver this message. Despite your refusal, should you desire anything from the library, I will provide it."  
  
That took Stephen by surprise.  
  
"Oh... there are a few books I would like to read."  
  
"Let me know."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Perhaps you should join the Avengers," Wong advised before he left. "It would be a waste to leave your skills unused."  
  
That wasn't a bad idea.

* * *

"You're considering it," Pepper began later that night.  
  
"Yes. My skill is being wasted. I cannot trust the masters, but I can still save lives this way."  
  
Stephen seemed passionate about the topic.  
  
"You don't owe anything to anyone," the woman stressed. "Look at Tony-"  
  
"Tony has earned his rest."  
  
"Stephen..."  
  
He sighed, running his hands through his hair in frustration.  
  
"You can't stop me. I'm sorry."  
  
"I won't try to stop you. I just want to know whether this is what you really want."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then I won't stand in your way."

* * *

Pepper knew what dating a superhero entailed. She didn't like it, but she knew. Tony thought it was karma that he was now on the other side of that particular type of couple. Together, they made it work.  
  
Being an Avenger was good for Stephen. Although both of his partners were worried sick, they supported him. He occasionally bumped into Wong when tackling more mystical threats, so they kept in touch. He never returned to the sanctum.  
  
All in all, he was happy.


End file.
